Shloka 426
हन्ता ज्वलनसंकाशै: शरै: सर्पविषोपमै: । “श्रीकृष्ण! आज मैं युद्धस्थलमें कर्णके पीछे चलनेवाले दीन-हीन सैनिकोंको सर्पविष और अग्निके समान बाणोंद्वारा भस्म कर डालूँगा
hantā jvalanasaṅkāśaiḥ śaraiḥ sarpaviṣopamaiḥ |
Sañjaya said: “I shall strike down—indeed, reduce to ashes—those wretched, dispirited soldiers who follow behind Karṇa on the battlefield, with arrows blazing like fire and deadly as serpent-venom.” The line conveys the ruthless escalation of martial resolve, where the speaker frames annihilation as a deliberate act within the brutal ethics of war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how, in war, anger and the drive for victory can harden into dehumanizing language—enemies are described as ‘wretched’ and the means of killing are glorified. It invites reflection on the tension between kṣatriya-duty (fighting) and the moral danger of cruelty and contempt.
In the Karṇa Parva battle setting, a warrior’s intent is reported with fierce imagery: arrows are compared to fire and snake-venom, signaling an imminent, merciless assault on the troops following behind Karṇa. The address to Śrīkṛṣṇa (as preserved in the cited line) frames it as a declared vow in the heat of combat.